This article contains information on identifying 1965-1966 Canadian built cars and 1964-1966 Canadian built engines.

Canadian Buick Car Serial Numbers (VIN) 1965-1966

In cases where US-built cars were imported into Canada, they used the US-style numbering formats. For 1965-1966, only the Special, Special Deluxe, Skylark, LeSabre Custom, and Wildcat Custom models (cars and engines) were built in Canada and production of cars in Canada occurred only at Oshawa, Ontario. The car serial number is stamped on a plate attached to the driver's side door post. Information on decoding Canadian Buick car serial numbers is available from the "Catalog of Canadian Car I.D. Numbers" by Bill Watson (ref. 10), the Canadian Maintenance Manual for 1965 (ref. 2) and the Chassis Service Manual for 1966 (ref. 3). Note that all references contain errors and omissions. The car serial number consists of twelve digits. Canadian built cars used the following serial number format:

4th digit is the engine (odd number for V6, even number for V8):
3 = Special or Skylark V6 in 1965 and 1966
4 = Special V8 in 1965, Skylark and LeSabre Custom V8 in 1965 and 1966
5 = Special Deluxe V6 in 1965 and 1966
6 = Special Deluxe or Wildcat Custom V8 in 1965 and 1966

Last six digits are sequential production number unique to that particular car:
starting at 000001 for 1965 Special/Skylark
starting at 050001 for 1965 fullsize cars
starting at 000001 for 1966

Canadian Buick Engine Serial Numbers 1964-1966

All Canadian built engines are stamped with a Canadian style serial number stamped on the engine in the same location as the serial number for U.S. built engines. On 1959-1966 V8 401 engines, the engine serial number is stamped on the left side (driver side in U.S./Canada) of the engine on the top of the engine block just in front of the valley pan. On the 1964-1966 V6 225 engines, the engine serial number is stamped on the left (driver side in U.S./Canada) front face of the crankcase, just below the head gasket On cars with power steering it will be necessary to remove the power steering pump bracket to view the complete engine serial number.

On 1964-1966 V8 300 engines and 1966 V8 340 engines, the engine serial number is stamped on the left (driver side in U.S./Canada) front face of the crankcase, just below the valve cover. On cars with power steering it will be necessary to remove the power steering pump bracket to view the complete engine serial number.

Serial numbers for Canadian built engines do not match the car serial number. For 1961-1966 cars, the engine serial number is stamped only on the engine. For these cars, you will need to buy the data package from the Vintage Vehicle Services department of G.M. of Canada to determine a "numbers matching" car, records are available for all cars built or imported and sold new in Canada. The 1959-1966 Canadian built engines are not stamped with the production code like U.S. built engines. The 1959-1966 U.S. built engines imported to Canada only have the production code stamped on them and no engine serial number, such as the 425 nailhead V8, which was not built in Canada. Information on decoding Canadian Buick engine serial numbers is available from the Canadian Maintenance Manual for 1964 and 1965 (ref. 2) and the Chassis Service Manual for 1966 (ref. 3). The Canadian engine serial numbers use the following format:

1st and 2nd digits are a code that indicates the engine and transmission type.

CODE

ENGINE TYPE BY YEAR

TRANSMISSION

1964

1965

1965

15

V8 401

All

17

V8 300

Manual

18

V6 225

Manual

24

V6 225

Manual

26

V8 300

Manual

29

V6 225

Manual

32

V8 300

V8 340

Manual

34

V8 401

All

38

V8 401

All

84

V6 225

Automatic

86

V6 225

V8 300

Automatic

87

V8 300

Automatic

89

V8 225

Automatic

92

V8 300

V8 340

Automatic

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